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Found some more pics of pyestock from my perspective, won't go through the history as you all have heard of it, this was a great day out.
I took this as I came originally from bexleyheath and erith is down the rd.

The last piece of Pye.
I’m sure everyone who visited Pyestock before it was demolished will remember the Anechoic Facility, that one last bit of the puzzle that couldn’t be visited. The blue-tailed building was still in use long after the demolition of the rest of the site, and is the only surviving part of Pyestock’s original host of facilities. This last part of the site has now also closed.
Visited with @SpiderMonkey and @darbians.
The National Gas Turbine Establishment.
For those who don’t know, NGTE Pyestock - The National Gas Turbine Establishment - was a huge industrial site in Fleet, Hampshire. The site was used to test jet engines during their development and could simulate the conditions of flight in huge wind tunnels. Large scale expansion took place throughout the 50s and 60s to facilitate the much larger jet engines being developed such as those used on Concorde. The site finally closed in 2000 due to a decline in jet engine development and the advent of computer aided simulations.
The Noise Test Facility
A lot of research into noise took place at NGTE over the years, and the first anechoic chamber was built in the early 1960s. The increasing demand for quieter aircraft stimulated the more research work, and as a result a larger test facility capable of undertaking large scale noise tests on a variety of gas turbine components opened in the 1970s.
The new facility consisted of two main laboratories, fully independent of each other. These were the Absorber Rig Facility and the Anechoic Chamber facility. The Absorber Rig Facility was the first to be completed and it came into service in the summer of 1972. The Anechoic Chamber Facility was commissioned just over one year later in early 1974.
The noise test facility in the 1970s before the blue inlets were installed
The blue air intakes and associated fans were installed during a refit in the 1990s
The plans below show the general layout of the building. The anechoic chamber is central with silenced air intakes to the left and the silenced exhaust duct and extraction fans to the right. The induced airflow passes through the anechoic chamber where the noise tests were conducted.
The Anechoic Facility has a 10,000 cubic metre chamber for noise testing in which the enclosed working volume has nearly zero noise reflection, thereby reproducing environmental conditions which can be compared to those in flight, and permits work to separately identify the source and direction of noise wave phenomena. The building is principally intended for the noise testing of jets, turbines and certain configurations of acoustically lined ducts.
Broadly, the facility consists of an acoustically lined main test chamber 85ft wide and 46ft high with an overall length of 88ft, but which is reduced to 52ft at the working section. The jet flow from the main noise source is projected towards an acoustically lined, flared duct 28ft diameter at inlet with a 20ft diameter throat, which acts as an exhaust inducer.
General view of the anechoic chamber with the exhaust duct to the left and working section to the right
View towards the exhaust duct showing fixed microphone towers
View from a hatch at the top of the working section, showing ceiling mounted crane
Three observation galleries were positioned around the chamber. Each could be retracted to preserve the room's anechoic properties:
The most striking feature of the anechoic chamber itself is the sound reflecting wedges of which there are nearly 7,000 units covering the walls, ceiling and floor. Three individual wedges are mounted together on a base-frame to form each single unit 610mm square; these units are then arranged over the chamber surfaces so that each successive unit has its wedge peak edges at right angles to the neighbouring unit.
The working section was modified during refurbishment in the 1990s. A permanent nozzle was fitted through which high pressure air could be blown in using the blue external assembly shown in earlier pictures.
Inside the working section the area where jet engines would be positioned was replaced with a network of pipelines feeding the new nozzle.
Large air inlet pipe behind the nozzle
The rig room before the refit
The exhaust collector was responsible for transferring the jet engine exhaust gasses and induced air from the chamber to the exhaust silencing structure behind it. It is acoustically treated around its periphery, this lagging consists of heavy density rockwool 8in thick, faced with cotton sheeting and perforated galvanised mild steel sheet. The duct itself is prefabricated from 0.25in thick steel plate and has a total length of 35ft.
The exhaust collector
Selfie shows the scale of this huge hole in the wall
Behind the exhaust collector
Air and exhaust gasses then pass into the exhaust silencing structure. The main features of the structure, other than the exhaust collector are the acoustically slabbed walls of the concrete ducts which reverse the flowpath, two sets of silencing exit splitters, high and low frequency, and the ten exhaust extraction fans.
Low frequency splitters on the left, and one of the two sets of high frequency splitters on the right. The pole is a fixed microphone boom.
Another selfie showing scale
The fan units themselves are double axial units having two counter-rotating six bladed fans in each pod, both with its own electric motor.
One of the two sets of five extract fans, plus one redundant space for an additional fan.
The new arrangement after the refit was particularly suited to testing ducts and propellers. One such item was found boxed up below the working section. This was possibly the last item to be tested at the site.
A separate building, houses the control and engineering service equipment. This building has three floors and the heavy service plant was originally installed on the lower floor with the service supplies fed to the rig room via an underground communication duct; the main control room is on the middle floor, while the upper floor houses the ancillary electronic equipment.
The control room and Fourier Analyser as originally fitted
The control room was refitted with computerised equipment during the refurbishment in the 1990s. All that remains from the original control room is a single panel, the Plant Controller board.

Well, I'm probably a bit late in posting this, but I was going through my old shots and thought good old Pyestock was worthy of another report with some of the classic shots. These took a bit of editing, all taken with a basic camera that I didn't really know how to use properly at the time, but I still have fond memories of our visits.
If you don't know what Pyestock was, welcome to the most epic industrial derp of all time! Sadly now completely flattened to make way for a distribution centre, the place became one of those "must visit" places for most explorers for awhile. Enjoy!
History
NGTE Pyestock - The National Gas Turbine Establishment - was a huge industrial site in Fleet, Hampshire. The site was used to test jet engines during their development, and was expanded over time to accommodate engines such as those used on Concord. The engines could be tested in the giant wind tunnels while the conditions of flight up to 2,000mph at an altitude of 65,000ft could be simulated. To achieve such a feat, the largest wind tunnels ever constructed were needed, and a vast array of additional services including the huge compressors in the Air House, which could be configured to blow air into, or suck air out of the test cells. Each compressor set, of which there were eight, were driven by 36,500hp electric motors.
Originally opening in the 1949 with a number of small test facilities, the site was top secret at first, but that didn't last. I should imagine the noise alone would have generated a lot of interest. Large scale expansion took place throughout the 50s and 60s to facilitate the much larger jet engines being developed such as those used on Concorde. The site finally closed in 2000 due to a decline in jet engine development and the advent of computer aided simulations.
Head on over to the excellent ntge.co.uk for loads more detail - by far the most comprehensive resource ever assembled about Pyestock.
Aerial view of the site before demolition.
Cell 4
Constructed in 1965 at a cost of £6.5 million, Cell 4 was the last large development on the site, and also the most complicated. It was capable of free-jet testing jet engines, whereby a jet engine could be run up to full speed while the conditions of flight were simulated.
The humongous Cell 4 - a supersonic wind tunnel for testing jet engines.
Higher view of cell 4 and its building.
The huge hole is where air would be blown in at supersonic speeds.
Looking the other way, we can see a hole where a huge pipeline would once have entered the building.
Viewed from the other end with spill air pipes either side.
Close-up to Cell 4.
Looking over the other way.
Inside the plenum chamber, where air enters the test cell. This selfie (yeah, the one that everyone got!) demonstrates the size of this thing.
Inhibition torches around the outside would have had nozzles where gas was ignited, like giant flame throwers, to burn off any residual jet fuel before the air recirculates around the system. The lattice of pipes behind is the first-stage cooler for cooling down the hot jet engine exhaust gasses.
View from crane operator's cab.
Cell 3
Built mostly underground within a huge trench, Cell 3 was the first testing cell built after plans in the early 1950s to expand the initial capacity of the site. Constructed at the same time as the Air House, it was designed as a general purpose cell to provide greater capacity than Cell 2 - it could cater for the new larger engines with their improved performance, and could simulate higher altitudes, all within a wider range of engine entry temperatures.
The "supersonic nozzle" of Cell 3.
Looking at the nozzle from where the engine on test would be installed.
These "blast doors" were installed for the filming of the movie Sahara.
Looking back through the blast doors.
Further behind the blast doors we find this other-worldly sight, the stripped out cooler of Cell 3.
The Air House
The Air House was an integral part of the site's expansion to cater for the new breed of supersonic jet engines. It was clear that the new Cell 3 would require more high pressure air or more suction capability than the Plant House could provide and so the Air House was constructed. It performed one function: to generate right atmospheric conditions to fly a supersonic jet engine on the ground.
Looking across the motors and compressors in the Air House.
The compressors were responsible for moving air through the test cells at up to 2000mph.
One of the 8 GECcompressor/exhauster sets.
Panels in the Air House control room.
The huge pipelines that connected the Air House to the Cells 3 and 4.
Plant House
Built in 1954, the plant house contained all the equipment necessary to run the original two test cells at Pyestock - Cells 1 and 2. Its job was very similar to that of the Air House, but on a much smaller scale.
Parsons compressor in the Plant House.
End view of the Parsons compressor.
Local control panel.
Plant House control room.
Exhausters 9 and 10
With the advent of even larger jet engines, such as those used on Concorde, more suction through the test cells was required. Exhauster 9 (in addition to the 8 existing compressor/exhauster sets in the Air House) was built adjacent to Cell 3, and later Exhauster 10 was built for exclusive use by Cell 4.
Exhauster No. 9.
The much newer Exhauster No. 10.
Cells 1 and 2
The original two full scale test cells at Pyestock, Cells 1 and 2 were constructed in 1957 as a way to test jet engines on the ground while they were fully fired up and running - essentially two large tubes with an exhaust duct and silencer.
Selfie in Cell 2.
Inside Cell 1.
Inside the exhauster stack of Cells 1 and 2
I make no apologies for all the selfies

Bit of a throw back report but I dont think I have posted these 2 sets up here yet and I have rcently been back through and reprocessed these old shots from both trips in hopes that they look a little less over baked.
Briefly the National Gas Turbine Establishment at Pyestock Fleet was built in 1949 beginning with some small test cubicals inside buildings like the plant house and has since been added to over the years resulting in the huge site that stands there today.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development. It was probably the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were tested on site. The power of the air house allowed Concordeâ€™s engines to be tested in the purpose built Cell 4 at 2,000 mph. Every gas turbine installed in Royal Navy ships was checked here; captured Soviet engines were discreetly examined.
NGTE Pyestock closed down in 2000 and decommissioned to make way for a business park.
Pyestock was used for several scenes in the 2005 film Sahara by Breck Eisner, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler. Internal sections of Cell 3 and Cell 4 were suitably reworked for the filmâ€™s supposedly solar powered waste disposal facility.
First visit
A massive thanks to Mr Bones for being the tour guide for us on this trip! He was mega tried having been up all night exploring but he proper pulled through for us what a Legend! Visited with Mr Bones and Sam the Mule. Really early start for us given the long 4 hour drive down there in snowy conditions. Iâ€™d planned trips here before which always fell through but not this timeâ€¦
We started with the Airhouse and covered Cells 3 and 4 (the main ones I wanted to see). Made all the better by the fact that the snow was about 3 inch deep when we arrived and about 8 inch deep when we left this trip tops my list to date! These no doing justice to the sheer scale of this place until youâ€™ve seen it for yourself! The cells were great I could have spent all day photographing each of them and we only ended up covering a fraction of the site! Revisit on the cards for sure!
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On to part 2...

My personal collection of photos from one of my favorite UE locations, Pyestock. The place dosen't really need any introduction, located in Fleet (UK) it was
a gas turbine development site for over 50 years. The largest site of its kind in the world, the power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2000 mph.
Hope you enjoy..
Gone but not forgotten...

2013:
Would love to revisit, but I believe demo is under way?
2011:
FINALLY!
I explore Pyestock after 2 and a half years of urbexing! What a place, well worth the hour or so external reccee and scramble through the woods!
The place was an industrial mecca of amazingness, so much to climb up and explore, once a hive of activity. There had been some recent "illegitimate stripping" going on from those wonderful people...
We all know what went on here, but for those who dont:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gas_Turbine_Establishment
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This was meant to be serious, not pissed off! Oh well!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/landie_man/sets/72157627148104431/

PYESTOCK...
As youre all no doubt aware the demo boys have moved in on Pyestock!
Luckily for me I managed a visit last weekend (24.3.13). This was my first visit and, sadly, by the looks it could be my last!
Kicking myself that I didnt see it earlier as it really is a fantastic place! The pictures you see just cant convey how MASSIVE it is in places!!
The National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE Pyestock) in Fleet, part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design teams of Frank Whittle's Power Jets and the RAE turbine development team run by Hayne Constant. NGTE spent most of its lifetime as a testing and development centre, both for experimental developments and to support commercial engine companies.
The newly merged venture was nationalised. Pyestock, a former golf course in a secluded wooded spot between Farnborough and Fleet was chosen as the turbine development site, as the activities at the NGTE would be top secret and the surrounding woodland would dampen the noise. Construction began in 1949 with small test "cubicles" inside buildings like the Plant House. When the possibility of supersonic jets arose, the site was expanded to the north west, with the Air House and several large test cells built circa 1961.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development. It was probably the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were tested on site. The power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2,000 mph. Every gas turbine installed in Royal Navy ships was checked here; captured Soviet engines were discreetly examined.
NGTE Pyestock closed down in 2000 and decommissioned to make way for a business park.
Heres me pix...
Thanks awfully for having a look...

You all know Pyestock and its illustrious past by now ok..I first visited in 2007 then finally in 2009.I wont bore you all with yet more pics of the various test Cells,but I will share with you,some old pics,some tech drawings that try to explain what actually went here.
For those new to Pyestock...
But you dont want see these do you....
Lets delve deep into the past ok..
I am betting you might recognise this
Air House
Air House again
Familiar view
Plant House
Cecca dry air plant
What went on in Cells 1 and 2
Controls
Cells 1 and 2
Concorde engine
RB211 in Cell 3 West
Cell 3 West
Spot the copter in Cell 3 West
And one for you Cell 4 fans
Cell 4
And one for the computer fans
Well,after reading this manual,I managed to garner some idea of what they did here,but its hard going.
Hope this has been of interest to all you Pye fans

The site thats been done hundreds of times before by people but this was my first time in, as well as the largest site i've done so far.
So with a 2AM set off to get across London to a waiting car and then off to pick up two others and head to the site, arriving around sunrise we where all eager to get in, getting was easier then expected.
First point of call of the day, the Airhouse.. what i can i saw but wow it was impressive.
at this point we heard a lot! of vehicles pulling up around the Airhouse, at first we thought ok 4x4 in his secca.. more and more came, builders.. or rather Demo works as Silent told me in a later convo, scared the crap out of us at first xD.
Anyways, moving out other to cell three and away from the workers, we could not for the life of us find the way into the test chamber [ later discovering about an hour later that the ladder was laying on the base of cell three.. more on that later.
Ok so not noticing the ladder yet we made our way along to cell 3 west to see if there was another underground route or anything connecting to cell 3, after bending over up-teen pipes we stopped for a while to admire the view
after our quick break and going under the pipes again, we arrive back at cell three, someone had made a phone call to shed some light on the access problem.. ahh ladder.. wait i see no ladder... points... oh... that ladder .. which was on the floor of cell three, what happened next was a tad crazy, a fellow explorer i was with slides down some wrapped together cable all the way to the base of cell three and re-places the ladder back up... all of us standing there going.. did that just happen lol, anyway final pics of the splore before we called it a day
hehe ^^... Santa forgot something d=
and messed up on the focus but :
Overall 2/3 things seen and it was a fun splore and im glad i've finally done it !
Rest at : http://flickr.com/gp/urdex/dRf40m

The National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE Pyestock) in Fleet, part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), UK was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design teams of Frank Whittle's Power Jets and the RAE turbine development team run by Hayne Constant. NGTE spent most of its lifetime as a major testing and development center, both for experimental developments as well as supporting the major commercial engine companies.
Like many companies at this time, the newly merged venture was nationalised, and the search for a suitable site for turbine development began. Pyestock, a former golf course in a secluded wooded spot between Farnborough and Fleet was chosen, as the activities at the NGTE would be top secret and (one presumes) the surrounding woodland would dampen the phenomenal noise. Construction began in 1949, but the site was not as we know it. Instead of the massive test cells there today, testing was done on a much smaller scale in test "cubicles" inside buildings like the Plant House. When the possibility of supersonic jets arose, the site underwent a massive expansion to the north west, with the massive Air House and several huge test cells being built circa 1961.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development and was almost certainly the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were all rigorously tested on site, the power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2,000 mph, every single gas turbine installed in the Royal Navy were checked here, captured Soviet engines were discretely examined - and all this on terra firma, without a single plane taking off.
NGTE Pyestock closed down in 2000. The Pyestock campus is now in the state of being decommissioned pending the building of a large business/industrial park.
,

So yeah, this ones been done to death but hell its worth the many miles out to see it! picked up by my good friend SX-Riffraff in the early hours one morn and made off.... stopped at a morrisons to pick up the reduced splore goodies and found somewhere to park ...... which was a bit awkward as most places had metal poles and barriers because of the up-coming Air-show, but this did mean we got a Sneak preview as some of the jets where doing barrel rolls across pyestock :popcorn
Anywayyyyyy we found ourselves inside and ducking behind pipes to avoid patrols, Overal a good day with a few close secca situations, i wont put any history as im sure most of you know what this place is by now
Right, Pictures!

Lets get this straight, Pyestock is probably my absolute favourite place to go, so much so I've been at least 4 times, maybe more - I lost count. I don't always even take photos, I just like being there.
The NGTE Pyestock really is an engineering masterpiece, built in a time before the powerful computer technology we have today when they had to test things for real, make real life observations and adjustments and calculated things by hand on paper or on very primative and basic calculators. These days this sort of testing is mostly simulated inside powerful computers, but back then they did this stuff for real!
The people that designed and built pyestock and the people that worked here were engineers in the truest sense of the word, it is totally unique in britain, and one of only a few such places that exist in the world. A testing facility built on a truely mamouth scale that consumed more power than a medium sized town when in full operation - so much so the altitude testing where they had to run the place at full power had to be done during off-peak hours so as not to de-stabalize the electricity network!
It will be a sad day when this place finally gets demolished, it would be great to think it could be preserved but back in the real world it serves no purpose anymore. If you've never been here then GO right now as you'll never get the chance to see anywhere quite like it ever.
I didn't take many photos on our recent visit as I already have hundreds from the bits we visited that day. These were all taken hand held, more snapshots than thought out photos, but I'll stick some up anyway it would be rude not to!
Thanks to all that I visited with - Special mention to Space Invader as it was in his honour we were there - it was his birthday a few days previous. Cheers to Wevsky, Stealth and SilverRainbow for the entertaining car journey, Leedsexplorer and your mate (sorry can't remember name!) who we met for the first time, good to meet ya and of course Obscurity, UrbanGinger and Knox for their usual excellent company. 10 of us, we must be mad!
Onto the explore.
Building number 1 of the day was test cell 3 West. This was used for testing in extreme conditions for performing icing tests on engines and aircraft parts, and for that reason the air could be coold and dried by the plant equipment located next to the test cell . To cool and dry that much air was in its self a piece of engineering genius. I didn't take any decent pictures of Cell 3 West that day, so have a couple from my archives.
It's in slightly worse shape now. :-(
Building number two of the day was the Airhouse, built to serve just two purposes - to blow air at high speeds and pressures to the test cells or to suck air at high speeds and pressures from the test cells depending on what testing was being done. There are 8 GEC turbines in the airhouse to facilitiate this linked to the test cells by the network of huge blue pipes you can see snaking round the site, the air flow directed and controlled by massive motorised valves at points along the pipes.
Building number 3 of the day was the amazing Test Cell 4. This was constructed purely for the testing of the Olympus engines that were to be used in Concorde and could test engines simulating the extreme conditions they would face flying at supersonic speeds and high altitudes. Again I didn't take any pictures that day, so have a couple from my archives.
Building Number 4 was Test Cell 3, this test cell is built underground, never quite worked out why I guess there was a reason. Notice the massive metal lid which went on the top of the test cell once the engine had been placed in there using the overhead gantry crane.
And that sadly was all we had time for, a small slice of Pye. The problem with Pyestock is it's so massive it takes a whle to get round everything, and of course you have to be aware of the on-site security when moving around - not that they were a problem once we had made it into the middle of the site. My tip if you go here is go early and stay long.
Will we be back for more pye? You bet your life we will!

Feel a bit like Im jumping on the "Wagon" a bit with this one as everyone else has just posted their reports recently but hey I guess its all about the participation that counts !, Heres a bit of history on this magnificent feat of British Engineering !
The National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE Pyestock) in Fleet, part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design teams of Frank Whittle's Power Jets and the RAE turbine development team run by Hayne Constant. NGTE spent most of its lifetime as a testing and development centre, both for experimental developments and to support commercial engine companies.
The newly merged venture was nationalised. Pyestock, a former golf course in a secluded wooded spot between Farnborough and Fleet was chosen as the turbine development site, as the activities at the NGTE would be top secret and the surrounding woodland would dampen the noise. Construction began in 1949 with small test "cubicles" inside buildings like the Plant House. When the possibility of supersonic jets arose, the site was expanded to the north west, with the Air House and several large test cells built circa 1961.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development. It was probably the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were tested on site. The power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2,000 mph. Every gas turbine installed in Royal Navy ships was checked here; captured Soviet engines were discreetly examined.
NGTE Pyestock closed down in 2000 and decommissioned to make way for a business park.
A more in-depth history and further info can be found Here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_G ... ablishment and here http://www.ngte.co.uk/ well worth the read so much icredible history and information !
Ok and for a few of my pics from the day, explored with and drum roll here goes ... Space Invader, Urban Ginger, Obscurity, Fortnox Zero, Maniac, Wevsky, Stealth, GAJ and last but not least Leeds Explorer !
Thanks for taking a look, Will be going back in the near future for yet another slice

This is somewhere ive always wanted to explore and will defintley be going back as it was to much to take in for one day .After wevsky mentioning it was his birthday soon ,so we decided it would be a good idea to spend the day crawling, climbing, and running from secca with 7 of are mates at pyestock i use to just go to the pub
visited with wevsky, obscurity ,troglodyte,, nelly, skelton key, fortknoxZero ,frosty and maniac
a little history...
The National Gas Turbine Establishment(NGTE Pyestock) part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), UK was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design teams of Frank Whittle's Power Jets and the RAE turbine development team run by Hayne Constant. NGTE spent most of its lifetime as a major testing and development center, both for experimental developments as well as supporting the major commercial engine companies.
Like many companies at this time, the newly merged venture was nationalised, and the search for a suitable site for turbine development began. Pyestock, a former golf course in a secluded wooded spot between Farnborough and Fleet was chosen, as the activities at the NGTE would be top secret and (one presumes) the surrounding woodland would dampen the phenomenal noise. Construction began in 1949, but the site was not as we know it. Instead of the massive test cells there today, testing was done on a much smaller scale in test "cubicles" inside buildings like the Plant House. When the possibility of supersonic jets arose, the site underwent a massive expansion to the north west, with the massive Air House and several huge test cells being built circa 1961.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development and was almost certainly the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were all rigorously tested on site, the power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2,000 mph, every single gas turbine installed in the Royal Navy were checked here, captured Soviet engines were discretely examined - and all this on terra firma, without a single plane taking off.
NGTE Pyestock closed down in 2000.
on with the pics
the air house
cell 4 ....
cell 3 west ....
Bramshot cooling towers ....
thanks for looking ...

Right i know another Pyestock report,but it was my first time there and a treat as it's my birthday the day after we visited,so a pyestock visit was in the pipeline(excuse the pun)
Security where on the ball and constantly patrolling so lots of duck and cover involved and at one point we seemed to be cornered in cell three west as the constantly drove round and round hoping to flush some one out into the open!
We managed to visit the air house ,cell three,cell three west,the computer building and the name of the rooftop we where on I'm informed by maniac was the bramshot cooling towers!
Right this explore as i have said was a birthday treat so a group of nine of us pitched up at pyestock,yes nine.
Roll call on the guys is as follows
Space Invader,Frosty,Fortknox0,Obscurity we then met Maniac on route,and about an hour later Nelly ,Troglodyte and sk pitched up.
Was indeed a great laugh lots of duck and cover and running and stairs up and down and over pipes all in all i really enjoyed it.
Right a bit of history blatantly copied from wiki..
The National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE Pyestock) in Fleet, part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), UK was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design teams of Frank Whittle's Power Jets and the RAE turbine development team run by Hayne Constant. NGTE spent most of its lifetime as a major testing and development center, both for experimental developments as well as supporting the major commercial engine companies.
Like many companies at this time, the newly merged venture was nationalised, and the search for a suitable site for turbine development began. Pyestock, a former golf course in a secluded wooded spot between Farnborough and Fleet was chosen, as the activities at the NGTE would be top secret and (one presumes) the surrounding woodland would dampen the phenomenal noise. Construction began in 1949, but the site was not as we know it. Instead of the massive test cells there today, testing was done on a much smaller scale in test "cubicles" inside buildings like the Plant House. When the possibility of supersonic jets arose, the site underwent a massive expansion to the north west, with the massive Air House and several huge test cells being built circa 1961.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development and was almost certainly the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were all rigorously tested on site, the power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2,000 mph, every single gas turbine installed in the Royal Navy were checked here, captured Soviet engines were discretely examined - and all this on terra firma, without a single plane taking off.
A few pics of areas i photographed as i didnt take any in the computer building due to the fact its trashed and not a patch on cell 4
Im trying not to go over board on the pics honest!
A few from up on a roof,a place im really not that happy getting up to
Thanks for taking the time to look

Another epic Sunday out and a cross forum meet, consisting of members of DP, 28DL, Urbex Forums, UK Urbex and Oblivion State, see we can all be friends
Those in attendance were Skeleton Key, Troglodyte, Space Invader,Frosty ,FortknoxZero, Obscurity, Wevsky, Maniac and myself.
The day was at the time the hottest day of the year and at one point after a few hours of going up ladders and over pipes I thought I was going to need an ambulance.
Anyway, enough of my nonsensical ramblings, on with the history.
NGTE Pyestock
In 1942 the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Turbine Division moved to new facilities in Pyestock. In 1944 Power Jets Ltd. (set up by Frank Whittle) merged with the RAE Turbine Division and was nationalised to form Power Jets (Research and Development) Ltd. In 1946 it was reconstituted as a division of the Ministry of Supply to form the National Gas Turbine Establishment.
Following the 1971 creation of the Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive, both the Admiralty Engineering Laboratory and the Admiralty Oil Laboratory were amalgamated within the NGTE. The establishment closed in 2000.
The Air House
The Air House was built in 1961. There are eight huge blue exhaust pipes rising the full length of the building that correspond to the eight compressor/exhauster sets inside. Those iconic blue pipes lead away from the building, which transported the fast moving air to/from the test cells.
The Air House had two functions; either blowing air or sucking air, all at very high speeds. It could produce wind speeds of up to 2,000 mph for Cell 4. There are eight identical GEC compressor/exhauster sets which aggregated to 352,000 horsepower, which was believed to be the largest installation of its kind in the western world.
The 8,000 horsepower steam turbine, which was powered by the sites boiler house, gave the compressor sets a kick start before it was synced with the grid. They could also be used whilst they were being run but this was expensive and only used on the supersonic tests.
Cell 4
The largest test cell on site, Cell 4 was built in 1965, at a cost of Â£6.5 million, as part of the Concorde programme but also to test other supersonic jet engines. It is connected to the Air House by those notorious blue pipes and was designed to simulate Concorde's flying conditions - Mach 2 (1522 mph) at 61,000 feet, but could test Concorde's engines at a maximum wind speed of 2,000 mph.
The sheer amount of energy required to run the air house at the speed needed was too great for the sites small power station to cope with. This meant that, although the power station could be used as an additional "top up", electricity had to be taken from the National Grid - an exceptionally difficult task. By the early 1970s, Pyestock had to negotiate with the CEGB, the Central Electricity Generating Board - the national electricity supplier - simply to have enough electricity generated. So as not to put such a strain on the grid, Cell 4 could only realistically be powered up at night.
Cell 3 West
Cell 3 West is the last altitude test cell built on site. Although not as physically large as the other cells, it was one of the largest internally allowing icing tests (testing to see how ice affects a turbines performance) to be carried out on engines and helicopter rotors.
Behind the large white opening is the test chamber, a large round space full of pipes, wires, nozzles, control panels and air vents. The engine or turbine would be suspended from a black structure on the roof of the cell, and the air would be blasted through the black pipe at the rear. There was a widespread rumour that the cells structure was actually a submarines hull.
Roof topping on the Bramshot Cooling Towers
That's it. Thanks for looking

One of the largest hosts to the development and testing of gas turbine engines, Pyestock stands proud for over 50 years in Surry in the UK. Pyestock had a huge part to play in the jet age through designing, testing and carrying out experimentation on Concord engines, Royal navy gas turbines and much more. From the 1950’s through to 1970’s Pyestock was the largest of its type in the whole of Europe.
As Technology advanced then Pyestock slowly ran into the ground until becoming eventually disused. The site is now internationally recognized and probably had the most unauthorized visitors than any other disused site. There have been no further uses for the site and planned demolition of the buildings for the erection of a supermarket storage facility is on the cards.
For a full virtual tour and tons of information on the site http://www.ngte.co.uk
So late one night whilst sitting at maniacs with my misses and frosty we were trying to decide what to do with our weekend. Well the decision was obvious, with rumors of Pyestock being torn down this year we had to see it. An early start put us on the road and on our way to one of the biggest and best places I have ever seen.
With a little help from Urban Junkie and Nik24 we found where to park. We walked round and round with no sign of the place and were then met by a huge fenced section, Towering above the trees where the tops of industrial buildings…everywhere! This was it. After a quick scale of the fence we were in.
We had been warned that security were currently very active on the site and quite a few people had been caught up there recently. With this in mind we made our way towards the buildings taking cover in the overgrowth. We spotted security and watched where they were driving and how frequent their rounds were. Now it was time to go.
We started our explore with the first building we got to, After making our way through the inner fence we started to look for a way in.
We were in, upon entering the building my jaw dropped; nothing could prepare me for the shear size of this place or the condition. Security had defiantly done a decent job in keeping the local vandals and copper thieves out.
Number 10 extinguisher
This building was built in 1969 and decommissioned in 2002 and was used to power the air supply network.
At this point two security land rovers had stopped at different points around the building and we were trapped. We wondered if we had been seen entering the building but surely we would see a land rover before it saw us?
WE sat tight and waited. They eventually were on their way. As we heard the rumble of their engines moving around the site we briskly made our way out the building and into the path of some pipe lines to keep out of sight. From here we slowly made our way round the site. There were a couple of trashed sub buildings and then Frosty found a door…Its open…
Test Cell 2
We had traveled past test cell one and entered the second. As we climbed inside we heard another land rover. Dropping to the floor in the fear they may look inside we laid still. They briefly stopped and then continued on their rounds. This was ridiculous. They had been patrolling every 10 minutes and we knew our next building was quite a way from where we were based but currently in the test cell and safely out of site we grabbed some photos
It would have been rude not too…
The place was so vast and we had been here a couple of hours already. We didn’t want to miss the best bits but we had done well so far. Looking out across the site maniac recognized the air house from previous reports…That’s where we have to go…NOW…
Gathering our stuff together we started to make our way in the direction of the air house. We went the hard way to avoid being spotted by security. Working our way under and over the huge pipes and trying to avoid walking on the gravel we slowly but surely made our way closer and closer to the air house. Another land rover passes as we freeze…now we can keep moving forward.
Maniac found a door but it was flooded. As he and my misses looked into it and attempted to construct a makeshift bridge, myself and Frosty kept moving forward to try and find a way into the air house. There was a door dripped open but we realized our chances of getting up to it and through it without being seen were remote. We eventually found another way in. We grabbed Maniac and my misses and made our way into the air house
The Air House
Slightly newer than the exhauster the air house was constructed in 1961 but I am unsure of when it was decommissioned, I would assume this would have been around 2002 also?
At this point I heard some shouting, Stop…Don’t move.
Shit…RUN…They’re gona get us…
As I looked out a slatted window toward the computer block I spotted four young gents running under, over and round the large blue pipe lines to the side of the air house. Close behind came a Land rover, screeching to a halt. Two security guards jumped out and chased after them. Taking note of this I quickly grabbed the others and we decided to be on the safe side and find a good vantage point to keep an eye on the security. We made our way to an old office at the top of the air house. First we saw a security Land rover, then another…Then two more.
At this point we thought it wise to stay put until the heat cooled of slightly.
Bark, Bark…Shit…Dogs…
As we peered out the window we caught a glimpse of two Alsatian dogs running loose round the grounds.
We decided to sit tight for a short while and then leave the site but then heard police sirens turning up!
Watching the security and dogs we waited and waited, about 45minutes later they had disappeared round the buildings and the barking of dogs sounded faint so we decided now was the time to leave. We had spent 5 hours there and seen a fair bit and didn’t want to over stay our welcome. There was just enough time to strip off and get a 28dayslater page 3 shot (hehehe) and then we ran.
We managed to get away and were happy with our days explore. Now we just need to return to finish what we have started
Thanks for looking
And finally Thankyou to Frosty, Maniac and dannii (my misses) we all did our bit and i dont think the day would have been or gone as smoothly without each of you there.

This place needs no introduction. I was very pleased to finally get my backside here after 3 years of looking at pics on the net, and the place did not disappoint.
If you want to read about our escapades that day, see obscurities thread Here
I was going to attempt to put up slightly different shots from the normal pyestock photos everyone takes, however I failed, there are certain images of this place you just have to take no matter how many times they've been done before.
Visited with Frosty, Obscurity and Obscurities Misses.
Anyway, hope you enjoy these.
Exhauster Number 10
Control panel for it
Controls for the gantry crane. The gantry cranes are brilliant in their own right, but stand in the shadow of the rest of the industry here.
Loking out of test Cell 3
and Inside it.
A selection of the absolutely crazy amount of cabling and wiring in this place. It would have been cutting edge stuff when it was installed.
The 'standard' photo of Air house
Control Room
Again the gantry crane is often overlooked, but is brilliant in its own right I think.
Couple of other lesser seen parts of the air house. Corridor area that runs underneath the exhausters
It's a right maze of staircases everywhere
Unfortunitely we didn't make it any further round the complex, as we decided to leave. Security were extreemly active in the area we were in and none of us really fancied getting busted that day. Never fear, we shall return at some point
Thanks for looking
Maniac.

Visited this place last year with StEaLtH and Lynton and Rachael and a few others, it was fantastic. Enjoy the pics.
From the filmset, this was fantastic inside.
This was one of the best places I've explored, Enjoy the pics.

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Oblivion State exists as an online forum to allow like minded individuals to share their experiences of Urban Exploration. We do not condone breaking and entering or other criminal activity and advise all members to read the FAQ articles about the forum and urban exploring in general. All posts are the responsibility of the original poster and all images remain copyright to the original photographer